Ad Nauseam
by KBZ
Summary: Through time and space, Shin's and Sena's tireless meetings.
1. See Ya Space Cowboy

The carbon-fiber glass shards twinkle oddly in the red fluorescent light when Shin looks around the corner. With gravity effectively off, they seem to be like miniature stars floating in the ramshackled office. There's a chair floating out of the shattered window, being consumed by the endless maw of space, with only the furniture bolted to the floor having remained. Shin surveys the room; eyes narrowing when he spots a broad mahogany desk, he draws his gun from its holster.

" _What do you see?_ " Takami's tinny voice sounds in his ear.

"Not much." Shin presses a button on his suit and reads the stats on the orange-tinted visor of his helmet. Still, something about that desk… "We're going to need a cleanup team, several objects are floating in space now."

" _Your scanners aren't showing any life. Head back to the ship. I guess we're still on Hiruma's trail-_ "

A ray strikes just to the left of Shin's head.

"Shit." Shin shoots his gun and ducks behind the corner. The titanium wall melts where it was struck. "Definitely life, it was a concentrated plasma canon, hand operated only."

" _I doubt it; the level of accuracy needed with those short-range is a stupid amount_."

"I would expect Hiruma to have experts as bodyguards."

" _Well, if you're_ sure _-_ "

Shin clicks his teeth at Takami. The _commander-in-chief_ of the intergalactic policing committee. But Shin's never been wrong before, so.

" _Right._ _We're sending-_ " Takami's voice turns to static as Shin's sensors go crazy.

(Shin thinks: sensor blocking.)

He switches his now-useless sensors off. There's a knocked over cabinet Shin can use to charge up to the desk and incapacitate the bodyguard. It's almost a shame considering how high of a mark's man the bodyguard is.

Shin sprints from the corner and dives behind the cabinet, just barely avoiding another blast. He goes above the cabinet in time to see a small figure hide underneath and fires three consecutive shots at the desk. That was a mistake- now he and the bodyguard are even, each two more chances.

Shin breathes deep and jumps over his makeshift shield. The bodyguard wastes no time and fires, but Shin's fast (the fastest) and he feigns away from the blast as he shoots (and misses). Thankfully, the plasma canon has a significantly higher cool down than Shin's gun, and he uses that time to jump over the desk and tackle the person against the white tile.

(Shin thinks briefly: the bodyguard is small, and thin, delicate under the skintight material of his suit.)

Shin knocks the canon away from the bodyguard's hands and it floats away into the void. He presses his boot against the bodyguard's throat and looks around for Hiruma, wherever he may be hiding.

"Where is he," Shin says through his suit's outer speakers.

The bodyguard chokes underneath him, squirming in his grasp, clawing at his throat.

(Shin thinks briefly: the bodyguard is terrified, and shaking, pleading brown eyes looking up at him through the his blue-tinted visor.)

Shin holds both of the bodyguard's hands in one of his own and eases the pressure. "Name."

(Shin thinks: the bodyguard is a boy, and young, no more than seventeen at most.)

"Sena," the boy gasps, ribcage arching as he sobs in air. Still, there's something about his eyes…

"Where is he."

The boy locks eyes with Shin and says nothing. The pulsating panic light shines off his helmet, and tinges the boy in crimson. Shin's breath stutters very briefly.

"If you tell me, we'll protect you from Hiruma. He won't be able to kill you if that's what you're afraid of."

Sena says nothing, just continues looking up at him; he can practically feel Sena's eyes tracing his jaw. From where Shin's crouching above the younger, the boy's palpating heartbeat is a fast but steady rhythm against his thigh.

"Do I know you?" Sena asks, then turns red for whatever reason.

(Shin thinks briefly: he might know Sena; he's familiar, the softness, the voice, the eyes.)

And something about the eyes… not the terror, not the defiance- but _acceptance_. Shin's not stupid and when he understands what Sena is doing in the abandoned corporate office with Hiruma nowhere in sight, Sena just smiles a bit apologetically.

He hauls Sena up, intent on taking him in to the policing ship for questioning, but Sena jerks away, quick and nimble. Sena kicks Shin in the stomach and uses the momentum to jump out of the window and into nothing.

"Sorry," Sena says. There's the plasma canon in his hand again- one last shot, the last part of this trick play.

(Shin thinks briefly as he tries to clamber after the boy: Sena's loyal.)

Lastly, Sena's eyes are sad. He puts the barrel against his helmet, locks it into place, and shoots.

There's no noise, there never is in space, which is a pity because the red and gray ribbons that are all that is left of Sena, should have some accompanying music.

He presses a button on his suit and hears Takami's voice, but only listens to parts of his message. " _-escaped hours ago… no trace…"_

"Send a biohazard unit," Shin says, watching the red matter glistening in all directions. He turns off his communication device and sits down.

(Shin doesn't think.)


	2. Read Me

**_The Oracle_**

* * *

 _Vol. CLIIIX . . . No. 54, 021 . . . July 11, 199X_

* * *

VICTIM OF DEPRAVED MURDER FOUND, LINKED TO PREVIOUS VICTIM

* * *

TOKYO - Around 10:15 AM on July 9th, the body of 22-year old Kobayakawa, Sena, was found stuffed into an old dumpster just outside the red-light district of Tokyo. Kobayakawa's mutilated body was reported by a sanitation worker over twenty miles from where Kobayakawa worked.

The sanitation worker wished to remain anonymous, but agreed to be interviewed.

"He looked so small. I saw his body curled up, huddled together like he was cold, his pants around his ankles. There was so much bruising, the poor little kid. I get a bad taste thinking about it. He looked like he was hugging himself, like he was cold."

The sanitation worker called authorities immediately, leaving the scene once to vomit.

"He didn't deserve that. I heard what he does- his peculiar night job- but he didn't deserve that."

"He was in a rough state," police captain Shin, Seijuro told reporters. "He was heavily mutilated, and autopsy says the damage was done before his death. It was vile; one of our lab techs resigned due to the horrific injuries that happened to Kobayakwa."

Among the injuries are fractured ribs, burns around the nasal and genital areas, degloved left ear, trauma from violent rape, and partial hand dismemberment. Three of the four detached fingers were not found at the scene of the crime; officials suspect that the killer kept the fingers as some sort of trophy. The main suspect is currently in police custody.

[IMAGE]

Shown here, Kobayakawa smiles happily at the side of his ill, bed-ridden mother.

"I can't believe he's gone," close confidant Taki, Suzuna (requesting to be addressed as Suzuna), told reporters through tears. "He was always so nice. He'd do anything for his mom, and he loved her so much." Suzuna is also the full-time nurse taking care of Kobayakawa's ailing mother, Mihae. "I was so lucky that the agency I work for decided to put me in the Kobayakawa residence. That's how we became friends. I'm here basically every day, twenty-four hours, and have my own room and everything. And Mihae is honestly very sweet when lucid- Sena really takes- took- after her in that respect."

Kobayakawa Mihae, a widow and former military nurse, suffered from early on-set Alzheimer's that progressed into dementia due partially to PTSD. She is unable to join the work force and has sudden, violent panic attacks; confined to bed rest and occasional walks, Suzuna is her only companion now.

"She has moments of clarity, usually when Sena is- was- around, and we go on little walks then at this nearby park. But, I don't know what's going to happen to her now. Sena didn't leave much money- he was always working so hard, but his pay wasn't spectacular- and… and once the paychecks stop coming, the agency will relocate me elsewhere. I don't know…"

In fact, Kobayakawa was barely making ends meet, the hefty medical bill chewing away at his paychecks. So much so, that Kobayakawa turned to other means of income.

"Of course I knew!" Suzuna responded when asked whether she realized how Kobayakawa could afford such expensive private care for his mother. "I pretended not to notice, but I knew. And he knew I knew. And now the rest of the Japan's going to know, and they're going to stop caring about him just because of how he was trying to help his mom!"

Serving as a male escort, Kobayakawa worked from Friday evening into late Sunday night at a local club. The club owner wished to remain anonymous, but agreed to be interviewed.

The owner is a polished businessman, smart suit matching his brain. Using this particular business model, he's been running this specific club for almost ten years. **_**

"My club has rules, as do all successful clubs do, I'd say. Clients pay up-front, in cash, sometimes even by this or that internet moniker. They follow the rules, they stay; if they don't, they are escorted out and blacklisted."

One of the many rules prohibits clients and staff from leaving together to an outside location not within the compounds.

"Now, clients pay for the company of some of my staff, but what happens between them I cannot say. If they want private time, they can use one of the many bedrooms located in house. I do this to keep my staff safe."

There has been one reported murder since the current owner took over, Himuro, M., which bears a striking resemblance with Kobayakawa's case.

"Yes, of course I remember… Maria… One of the most beautiful girls here, killed by that charismatic psycho."

The "charismatic psycho" is Kongo, Agon, who was recently granted parole for good behavior after serving 7 of his 20 years in federal prison, though now resides in police custody.

"I can't believe another one…" the owner said, voice hoarse. He took his pocket square and dabbed at his eyes. "Sena was such a good kid. You ever meet him? The shy type, I'd say, rare in this business, certainly, but that was part of his charm. I always wondered what he was doing working for me. That poor kid…"

"He was real popular with the old lonely types," hostess Tsuyumine, M., said. She was one of the last people to see Kobayakawa alive on July ninth, and a very close friend. She was one of the few people who knew about Kobayakawa's situation. "They came in, took one look at him, and immediately thought of their grandkids. They'd just about talk his ear off. He was too sweet and would hesitate reporting clients that made him uncomfortable. I never worried too much- sure he got a couple creeps, but they'd get reported, and the older crowd is harmless… Oh my God, but someone killed him, oh my God… Last time, when- when Himuro was- when they found her like that, they caught that scumbag. And now he killed Sena."

"I thought they'd be safe, my staff," the club owner stressed. "But I can only protect them in here, and only so much. I wish they'd found a different job, maybe they'd be safe, even if I never met her, she'd be safe. I thought, I thought." The owner refused to elaborate.

Captain Shin pointed out the similarities in Kobayakawa's case with the murder of Himuro.

In Himuro's case, Kongo knocked her unconscious with a blunt object to the back of the head before brutally violating her. Kongo burned parts of her skin, including her left cheek and genital area, with a lighter later identified to be an orange Zippo lighter he was spotted using. Himuro's death was due to asphyxiation for Kongo's sexual interest.

Kongo reportedly walked calmly out of the room and quietly left.

"It's not uncommon," the owner said. "I'd say most clients leave after they've had their fun. Cleaning crew gives my staff fifteen minutes' grace time to clean themselves up. We didn't suspect anything until it was too late."

Indeed, by the time the cleaning crew found the body of Himuro half-rolled under the bed, Kongo was in a diner eating his last meal as a free man.

"Kongo's DNA matches what was found on Kobayakawa," Captain Shin added. "This case, if all goes well, will end with a heinous, guilty man behind bars."

But, if things go as they did in Kongo's previous hearing, he will receive an unfitting punishment. Kongo showed up to his previous court hearing in a pressed suit- dreads shaved off and no sunglasses as was his signature look when he visited the club. The jurors agreed that he seemed completely resigned and accepting of his fate.

"The Kongo I saw in court," Tsuyumine M. said, who also served as a witness, "was nothing like the brash, obnoxious, swaggering man that came in here. Like he was a different person, someone with manners."

Doubtless, that led to his lighter sentence of twenty years in prison, compared to twenty-five to life for similar crimes.

"And now he's out," Suzuna said, "and he killed again, and he'll probably be out in a few years, and he'll never learn, and you know what? No one really cares."

With the death of one individual, strings of fate are cut: Kobayakawa's relationships with his colleagues; his image due to the unveiling of his rather unsavory night job; with nurse Suzuna; and most devastatingly, with his mother.

When asked whether she knew what happened, Kobayakawa Mihae would only respond with: "He's late for work, but I'll make us a nice dinner."

Eventually her lucidness gave way to her decease and she became unresponsive, unraveling and raveling the same few feet of red yarn that lay by her bedside.

"The last thing he said to me was 'Take care going home, I'll see you tomorrow,' " Tsuyumine M., said, openly crying. "And I just said thanks, and he walked out into the night, and I'll never be able to speak to him again."

Kongo, Agon, will attend court in early August for the murder of Kobayakawa, Sena.


	3. Of Golden Lovers Naught

The Ferris wheel is going to crash, so Shin and Sena climb out of the navy baskets (no mesh or wiring or caging- causalities are ignored here in Ludibun) and scramble down the iron framework until they can jump out. The other passengers, still high off ludrinks, scream in pleasure as the Ferris wheel sways concerningly.

Shin and Sena know to never accept anything to eat outside of the worker's lodgings.

But, at the sharp look from the anonymous guards (glasses, blue fatigues, caps, genderless almost) Shin and Sena continue walking to the happier parts of Ludibun. The parts of the carnival-land with popcorn and orange and pink hanging lanterns and bright lightbulb chains- each bulb as wide as Shin is tall- fighting the permanently overcast skies above the glass dome. There's bright autometronic billboards flashing with advertisements of delicious modified jelly food and liquid snacks and gaseous drinks- because everything is new and exciting in Ludibun. Where your days off can be spent exploring the ever growing community, and it is all free (as long as you contribute to Ludibun… but the labor isn't hard).

(The labor… is odd.)

Sena ignores the twinge in his gut when he hears the wet thud of meat dropping onto pavement and pretends to not notice the rush of guards to go clean up the mess of the latest, nameless victims.

"Don't think about it," Shin says, steering Sena to a different attraction. A fun house, or a horror house- it's hard to tell, although the gaping clown-mouth that serves as the entrance can really go either way. "We're supposed to be enjoying ourselves." When a guard doesn't look away from them, Shin smiles with practiced ease, and kisses Sena dizzy, with gusto, with excitement, with fear.

"Yeah, yeah," Sena says, playing along and hugging Shin around his middle. "This looks fun- I mean they all do, but we haven't seen this one right?"

"Not that I recall," Shin slides his hand down Sena's back, "come on, my treat."

"Seijuro, they're all free," Sena laughs. The guard at the entrance scans their worker cards and they enter. Shin's hand slip away from Sena. The orange lights give away to darkness save for a glowing footpath. With so many attractions

(a _lot_ of attractions, in fact, and every day upwards to twenty are added, as seamlessly as possible, to the thousands already present, forming some sort of decadent shanty town, though it should be impossible considering that the entirety of Ludibun is encased in that dome. But, it's Ludibun, and the construction keeps people employed and distracted; and hundreds of attractions fall apart anyway.)

There's hardly any other clients, and they weave themselves through the first part, a winding hallway that gets narrow and tall, wide and squat, that rounds its roof, and serves to disorient the customers.

"That is why it's my treat," Shin whispers, because there are cameras and audio recorders everywhere- they should know, they've helped set them up back in their days of grunt work in Ludibun- and sarcasm doesn't always bode well.

"I wonder how long this goes on," Sena wants to reach out for Shin's warm hand or tug on his shirt. His eyes have started to adjust and Shin's back is invitingly close to him.

(They're friends, though, despite what their documents may say. Sena remembered Shin from before the Twins rampaged most of their failing country, and then they happened to run into each other between jobs as they stumbled into the worker's motels. One thing did _not_ lead to another. They married simply because if they didn't, they'd be assigned a partner.)

But:

The second room that they enter is a bit of a letdown. Some lizard man behind a cage, some drowned man gurgling up at them from a pool, and some other figure wrapped in bandages slouched against a corner.

Shin and Sena have seen this type of thing before; although Lubidund keeps expanding and adding new attractions, the creative quality can only extend so far. Sena peers over the edge of the rail at the drowned man, stares into his watery eyes.

Maybe he's a criminal and this is his sentence for an unproportional amount of time. Sena grimaces at that, considering the state of the legal system in Ludibun is as sane as the whole concept of the city-state itself.

Or, more likely, a botched, depraved lab experiment.

Sena hurries past the lizard abomination and through a gate to the next room. There is a single pedestal in the brightly lit room.

"A puzzle room," Sena groans. He's terrible at puzzles- the last time they were in a similar fun house, Sena almost got the killed by not getting a code correctly.

"I'll handle it," Shin says, tapping away at the touch screen. Sena fidgets. The touch screen cracks. "Oh. The-"

The gate opens, and they can hear the monsters from the previous room start to move towards them.

—

Seijuro stands at the edge of the shore. Gray, murky water undulates lazily as far as Seijuro can see, surrounding the bright bubble of the city-state in dull sludge. Gray sky to gray water. It tires Seijuro's eye, seeing so much of the same thing.

But Seijuro wasn't born in the city-state. Miles out into the gray lies Seijuro's birthplace- a tall cathedral, white and radiant in his mind, spiraling into the heavens.

"You look lost," smirks a girl with chopped blue hair. She eases next to him, batts her light lashes at him, arches her back a bit. She's dirty, and it's a miracle her clothes seem as intact as they do. Life is rough outside of city-states.

"I need a boat."

"Yeah? I know a guy, the boater. I can help you out; not for free of course, but we can work something out. You worker ants always got something on you, yeah?"

"I have this," Seijuro says, unclipping his worker ID from inside his wallet. His dollars only mean something inside of the bubble- otherwise they're just colorful pieces of paper.

"Oh, _shit_!"

The girl makes to snatch it away, but Seijuro retracts his arm in time. She looks up at him, round eyes surrounded by deep shadows and gaunt cheekbones, calculating her chances and panting. A joke really. Her ribs are visible from beneath her cropped top. Seijuro immigrated, so he knows hunger and only ate enough honey and fat in the city to fill him and not to cover his muscles in fatty tissue.

"Take me to the boater."

"What — then who's gonna get that card then, huh? The boater. Nah, that's not fair to me, man, I'm starving!"

Seijuro turns around and heads back to the city's entrance.

"Wait! Hey, hey! Yeah, okay, you win," the girl tugged on his arm, her grasp the clutch of a baby bird.

"You will take me to him then."

"And my payment?"

"That is between you two."

"Shit, man…" Then she brightens, and smiles at him. "I'm Julie by the way." She sticks out her skinny hand to shake. Seijuro does so.

"Lead the way."

"Sure thing. This way then."

She leads them away from the shore and to one of the slums, following some misshapen path.

"So what you running away from?"

"Nothing."

"Yeah right!" She snorts. "It's so funny, y'know? Everyone in the city always leaves, because they think whatever they want is just past that little puddle." Julie points at the slopping water, getting fainter in the distance. "But, damn, if you grew up out here, we'll do anything to get in. That ID card you got, that's worth more than food, more than pussy, too."

Seijuro says nothing, just walks alongside her. There were occasionally a few people they'd pass, all of them in various shades of gray with dirty, skinny faces.

"You know when someone introduces themselves, you're supposed to say your name, too? I don't know if they do that in the city, but that's how it works out here."

Seijuro hesitates. "Shin."

"Well, Shin, it's nice to meet you." She leads them to a rickety old hut, even for a favela's standards, sitting by the water's edge. Two gnarled trees surround the entrance.

Julie climbs up the stairs, and trips, just in time for Seijuro to reach out a hand. She spins around, slamming her foot into his temple.

Seijuro cottons the blow with his palm, lurching back slightly. Julie goes for another kick, but Seijuro catches it, and throws her against one of the trees.

Her back slams against the trunk and slumps, writhing on the ground. "Ah— you…" She staggers up, resting against the base of the tree.

"Where's the boater?"

"Inside —"

"Why should I believe you?"

"I'm not a liar, okay? I'm trying to take care of myself."

Shin thinks for a moment, looking at Julie. "I would have given you my ID."

"And as soon as you left they would've stole it from me."

Seijuro knows that to be true, but there is nothing he can do about that. He walks into the depilated house. Twenty minutes later, he is given a raft and some supplies— luxury for the slumrats sure, but this is all Seijuro can get.

When he emerges, wearing a ridiculous pink life jacket, Julie is still hunched over by the tree, shaking. Seijuro knows that he should offer something, say, 'Come with me, we can leave together.'

Julie looks up, just in time to see Seijuro push off the water's edge. She limps to the shore, is only a few meters away from Seijuro, close enough for him to see her tearful eyes.

'Don't leave me here,' they say. Her tears leave streaks on her dirty cheeks. 'I don't want to rot.'

But Seijuro has already left someone infinitely more precious to him only a few hours earlier. Turning his head back around and ignoring Julie is comparatively easy, like brushing off cake crumbs.

—

The day turns into night, the lighting changing ambiguously to a darker gray, and with it, a rank fog steaming up from the sludge. Seijuro keeps pushing himself along in the vague direction he thinks his home is. Somewhere north and a little to the east, about two days' travel time. But Seijuro isn't worried.

—

He finds the cathedral. Its walls are gray and caked with grime. The weak light glistens on the heavily-repaired rose windows. It still spirals up to the heavens. It is still home. The belfry tolls above, the air singing with the hollow tolls from the bells. He wedges the raft, chucks off the life saver into the gray, runs inside.

The cathedral walls are dark, and to make up for it, the monks gilded the ceiling with glass and crystal to bring in the heavens. He hears splashing from where the baptism pool is — a literal pool of Olympian proportions so he goes to the room, eyes still up at the scintillating ceiling.

It's his mom. Seijuro can't make sense of it, his mother floating in the sky with tendrils of her hair swaying. Bubbles escape her mouth. Seijuro looks down at the large baptism pool again, races to its edge and peers in, eyes wide and terrified as his mother continues to sink to the depths of the crystalline water.

He dives in, each stroke furious with urgency, blurred images of her, his lungs burning, but he wraps his arms around her and kicks off from the bottom of the pool and breaks the surface and drags them to the tiled floor, gasping. His mother starts coughing and shuddering out the water from her lungs.

"What did you do," she chokes out, voice full of venom.

"Mother, what were you doing?"

She throws up some more water. She digs into her pockets and pulls out heavy stones and throws them at her son. "Why did you come back now." She doesn't make it a question. Her eyes are so hateful.

"I didn't like Ludibun."

"You didn't like Ludibun? How ungrateful can you be? That's the last place with food and here you are." Seijuro doesn't know if she's crying or if it's just the water trickling. "I hate you, I hate you; my only son." She clutches at her head, buries her eyes in her hands. "There's nothing here for you, my darling son!"

Seijuro sits next to her as she rambles incoherently. The mad love of his mother has never been clearer to him. "We can go back, the both of us…"

"I can't work, I won't." Suddenly, she lurches forward to him and claws at his face. "I gave you everything and you threw it back at me!"

"Mother, please —" Seijuro grabs her wrists carefully. They're disturbingly thin.

"Leave, Seijuro," she says quietly. Her eyes, which had been clouded by the water and the madness of abuse are clear, lucid. "Seijuro, I know you left but there's nothing here for you. You'll waste away. Go, Seijuro, my darling son. Please," she stares directly in his eyes. "Please live."

"Mother, I —"

She slaps him away, and grabs her head again, "I hate you, I hate you, I hate you!"

Seijuro stands jerkily, and leaves.

—

Seijuro can't find Sena. And the likely hood that they'll ever find each other is close to impossible. The city has gotten even more congested, but he walks with purpose through the crowds and finds it

The house of horrors.

—

Sena doesn't get a new partner after Seijuro disappears. There's a few people who seem interested, but he applies to widowed status instead. His heart feels empty. He chooses the old, depilated attractions; the ones that creak and are held together by only hinges.

—

Seijuro has not gotten any better at puzzles. The mutations capture him.

—

Eventually he goes into a horror house. Sena has been hesitant but he is lonely.

—

They burn Seijuro for arbitrary reasons. They put him on display. Sometimes workers will stop by. But mostly he stands and wait in perpetual fire.

—

Sena finds the horror house.

Inside is Seijuro, set on fire and screaming in agony and chasing him, and they're running, both of them; and they can't even touch and Sena is crying as he passes through and escapes but Seijuro can't, so he stays and burns down the horror house and when Sena walks outside, under the dome, he sees the lightbulb chains shatter, and he looks directly up at the falling glass.


End file.
